Banco Santander posted on Wednesday a 4 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit from a year earlier after being hit by extraordinary impairments in its U.S. unit.

Santander, the euro zone’s biggest bank in terms of market value, reported net profit of 1.54 billion euros ($1.92 billion) in the period October to December. Analysts had expected net profit to come in at 1.46 billion euros in the quarter.

Not including extraordinary charges, underlying net profit in the quarter was up 9 percent boosted by a solid performance in its largest market, Brazil.

Net interest income, a measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, was 34.3 billion euros in 2017, up 10.3 percent from a year earlier.

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Source: cnbc
Santander fourth-quarter net profit down 4 percent on US impairments